


Snake Studies

by jedipati



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Aziraphale's Bookshop (Good Omens), Gen, POV Outsider, Post-Apocalypse, Snake Crowley (Good Omens), crowley likes it when people ask questions, crowley likes questions, there's a snake in my bookshop, this is the only fandom where post-apocalypse is so fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 17:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20911361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedipati/pseuds/jedipati
Summary: Rumors of a snake (or snakes) in a bookstore drive a herpetology student out to try to find the answers.  She only finds more questions.  Outsider POV.





	Snake Studies

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by [this post](https://goodomensprompts.tumblr.com/post/188107072515/theres-outsider-pov-from-people-trying-to-buy) on tumblr. Short, a little silly, and I hope you enjoy it.

Megan Smith smiled as she looked at the old bookshop. A.Z. Fell and Co was becoming famous, but not for books.

No, it was the snake that had taken to inhabiting the bookstore. Mr. Fell, the owner, was either clueless on what type of snake he had, or he didn’t want to tell anyone.

It didn’t help that people kept saying the snake was different sizes. Megan had heard people mention sizes from a foot long to nearly ten feet, and everything in between. And yet, every single snake was black, with the same red stripes on the side and bright yellow eyes.

No one was sure what type of snake it was, or even if it was one snake or if Fell just liked snakes and had several pets.

Megan was determined to find out. She was studying herpetology and wanted to work for a zoo in the reptile department. She loved snakes, and everything she heard about this one or ones told her she’d love them.

Megan took a deep breath and entered the store. She’d been hearing stories for months, she wanted to know if they were real. 

“Hello,” the man behind the counter said warily as the bells on the door jingled. He didn’t look like the kind of man to own (possibly multiple) black snakes, but looks were deceiving. 

Megan smiled at him. “Mr. Fell?” she asked.

He nodded. “I am indeed. What can I help you with, my dear?”

Megan paused. “I… Um…”

The man smiled suddenly. “Is this about the snake?” he asked. “Everyone who wants to see him acts like this,” he added at her surprise.

“Oh. Well, yes,” Megan said. “I’m a student and I want to work with snakes in a zoo someday, and I heard about your snake- or snakes- and I’d love to see one of them- or him, I suppose, if it’s just one.”

Mr. Fell chuckled. “I’m not sure where he is right now,” he said. “But I’m sure there’s a snake around here somewhere.” That really didn’t answer the question on if there was more than one. “You’re free to look around, just be careful of the books.”

Megan smiled. “I will, Mr. Fell,” she promised. She’d heard stories about how Mr. Fell felt about anyone who mistreated his books, but also that he didn’t mind people coming in to admire his snake(s). 

Megan began to look around. It was a wonderful bookstore, and it felt like she imagined a portal to another world might feel like. It felt like home should feel like, she thought. She banished that thought. Time to go snake hunting. 

It was warm enough in the shop that any snake would be comfortable. Perhaps most snakes (except desert snakes) would like more humidity but that would be bad for the books. Megan frowned. Perhaps that meant this snake was a desert snake?

She turned down one aisle and stopped. A snake- a beautiful black snake- was all coiled up on an empty shelf. “Hello Beautiful,” she whispered. At her words, the snake poked it’s head up and sampled the air with its tongue. 

She smiled at it. Black, with red stripes, and the bright yellow eyes… she’d found it. She couldn’t tell how big it was, since it was coiled up, but this was the snake.

It was such a pretty snake. Megan took the time to admire the snake for a while before she took a deep breath. Time to get a good look at it. And take several photos, too.

It looked like it might be a red-bellied black snake, almost, but the head was wrong. And surely Mr. Fell knew better than to let a venomous snake roam free. Even if it was a venomous snake that had never actually killed anyone.

No, it wasn’t a red-bellied black. But she had no idea what it could be.

The snake took that moment to begin uncoiling and moving down the bookshelf. She watched as it slithered away and decided that it was probably about five feet long. That was just slightly too long to be a red-bellied black, too. So it wasn’t that. 

What other snakes species were black with the red stripe and belly?

Megan would need to study.

She headed out, after saying goodbye to Mr. Fell.

Once she got home, she wasn’t happy that all the pictures she’d taken of the snake were missing from her phone, but she could still look things up from memory at least.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aziraphale sighed as he flipped the sign to closed after another busy day and sat down on his couch. He felt something slitter up his leg but didn’t move. “This is your fault, you know,” he said as the something settled down on the couch beside him.

The not terribly large snake that Crowley currently was somehow managed to convey innocence, even though Aziraphale had never known him to actually be innocent. Perhaps he had been before the Fall, but Aziraphale had never been able to even imagine Crowley as anything other than the Demon he was.

“You don’t fool me,” Aziraphale said. “You’re having fun with them.”

The snake reared up and a second later was replaced with a man. “Can you blame me, Angel?”

Aziraphale didn’t say anything to that. No, he didn’t. It was honestly fun for him, too.

“And thankssss,” Crowley added. “For not ruining the mystery for them.”

Aziraphale just smiled and handed him a mug of cocoa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


End file.
